The International Committee of the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) has
commended the African Union (AU) for the launch of a single, common
electronic passport (e-Passport) for all Africans at the just concluded
27th AU Summit, in Kigali, Rwanda.
It also applauded the ultimate goal of the single passport which is set
to realise the dream of visa-free travel for African citizens within the
African continent by 2020.
In the same vein, the AU’s single, common electronic passport throughout
the continent falls squarely within the framework of Africa’s Agenda
2063 and has the specific aim of facilitating free movement of persons,
goods and services around the continent in order to foster intra-Africa
trade, integration and socio-economic development.
Reacting to this development, President/ Executive Producer, AFRIMA,
Mike Dada, said, “The African Union’s plan to allowing free movement of
citizens within the African continent is a stepping stone towards
building stronger unity among African nations and this is what we at the
International Committee of AFRIMA have been canvassing and propagating
for years in line with the AFRIMA’s vision.
“For us in AFRIMA, it is a strong step towards making every African
citizen to think and act beyond national identities and identify
themselves as citizens of the African continent with a sense of pride
that, ‘I am an African.’
“We have found that it is easier to travel to Europe and America from
Africa than Africans travelling within Africa. Yearly, we face a big
hurdle in visa processing, direct flights and protocol to bring in over
880 nominees/superstars and their guests, 150 production crew members,
international media and over 2000 international invited guests to the
AFRIMA Awards ceremony annually.”
“The single passport will also ease and facilitate one of the AFRIMA
objectives which is to engage all the stakeholders who are critical to
the awards process to give them a platform for knowledge sharing and
capacity-building on the continent. AFRIMA has embarked and organised
stakeholders’ engagements and press conferences in over 25 African
countries in the five regions of Africa. This we will do until we cover
the 54 member states,” he concluded.
In partnership with the African Union Commission (AUC), AFRIMA, is a continental music and cultural initiative
developed to celebrate, reward and showcase the rich musical heritage of
Africa, stimulate conversations among Africans and between Africa and
the rest of the globe about the great potential and values of the
African culture and artistic legacy for the purpose of creating jobs,
reducing poverty, calling attention of world leaders to Africa and
promoting the positive image of Africa to the world.
In line with the AFRIMA 3.0 calendar, submission of entries closes on
July 30, 2016. There are 34 award categories open to music artistes,
producers, video directors, songwriters and music/entertainment
journalists as well as the hitherto unheralded music professionals. The
spectacular 2016 awards ceremony will be hosted in Nigeria in November
4 to 6.
